[x-pubpol] USA: Liability Concerns for Operators of Unsecured Wireless Networks

[Joly MacFie]

Via: Marshall Eubanks

http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2035633

Abstract:
A growing number of plaintiff’s lawyers in digital copyright
infringement cases are aggressively pursuing claims against even
unlikely defendants. Most notably, in one case a seventy year old
grandmother accused of pirating pornography. Furthermore, plaintiff’s
lawyers state in settlement letters that “[t]he Internet Service
Provider . . . account holder is responsible for securing [their]
[wireless] connection and may be legally responsible for any
infringement(s) that result from an unsecured wireless
network/router,” even if a “spouse, child, roommate, employee, or
business associate” committed the infringement. Some of these initial
settlement letters even state that the affirmative defense of having
an unsecured wireless network “has never been successfully argued, in
multiple contexts, including child pornography and civil copyright
infringements actions.”

Recently negligent operation of a wireless network (WLAN) has also
begun to appear as a cause of action in digital copyright infringement
cases. One unnamed defendant (Doe 4) even agreed to pay $10,000 as
part of a settlement in which he “acknowledge[d] that a failure to
secure [his] wireless internet router by password protection may
invite infringing uses of copyrighted materials accessible to
individuals through such a router.” Doe 4 also agreed to take steps to
“secure his . . . router and to deny [the] use of his internet
connection to anyone who would engage in infringing conduct.”

This paper focuses on the liability of wireless network operators for
the wrongful acts committed by others on their unsecured networks. The
premise of this paper is that the operator of an unsecured wireless
router is not liable for the wrongful acts of third parties committed
over his open Internet connection.




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